We have seen many examples of these paperbacks... they all are very similar. These signed books all went to personal of Allen & Unwin and very close relatives. So I don't see it as some kind of booksigning event, more as a big thank you to the company that published his books (and had sooo much patience with him).

I seem to remember seeing a letter sold with one of these signed books a few years ago. It was from Allen & Unwin to a bookseller and said something along of the lines of: If you order a certain number of copies you will get a signed one for free.I will try to dig it out.

The hundred signed paperbacks did not all go to Allen & Unwin personnel or their families. See Chronology, p. 729, for 18 July 1968: 'The paperback will be published in October, and the Allen & Unwin sales department have suggested that, to build up substantial initial sales, booksellers who pre-order one hundred or more copies should get an extra free copy signed by Tolkien.' Otherwise, Tolkien did occasionally sign copies for Allen & Unwin staff. In April 1972, Tolkien asked to meet the publisher's staff at Museum Street in London and at their warehouses/sales offices in Hemel Hempstead to thank them for having sent a three-foot-high card for his 80th birthday (and let us not forget that tomorrow, or today already in some places, the 3rd, is his 119th). He went to London on 27 June, and to Hemel Hempstead on 14 July. During the latter visit, he signed copies of his books for staff members (Chronology, p. 765). Afterward, he autographed an interoffice memo for the driver who returned him to Oxford (this turned up on eBay last March).